Benjamin Arenstein is a PhD candidate completing a joint-degree in Middle Eastern Studies (modern Hebrew language and literature) and Slavic Languages and Literatures. His work focuses on the political and social resonances of poetry across Soviet space (working languages Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Georgian, and Tajik). He is particularly interested in translation theory, ecocriticism, and the relationship between multilingualism and canon formation.
Benjamin's dissertation project, "Poetry and the Soviet Jewish Underground, 1956-1989" examines how writers, editors, readers, and translators used unofficial verse to reimagine Jewish life under late socialism. His research has been supported by the Fulbright Foundation, Title VIII, the American Institute for Research in the South Caucasus, and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. In addition, Benjamin is an active translator, curator, and letterpress printer. His current projects include an exhibition on Georgian-Jewish life at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi (co-curated with Teona Japaridze) and a letterpress series of Yankev Glatshteyn's post-war Yiddish poetry.
Benjamin is an alumnus of the Fulbright program in Uzbekistan (first cohort after renewal of program in 2018). He holds bachelor’s degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Jewish literature and from Columbia University in history.